Journey Hayes-
Spring, 1991.
I sat with my arms crossed over my chest while staring out of my window, daydreaming about nothing in particular while my father and my younger brother Wesley conversed about nothing in particular.
I sighed and continued to sulk in my seat, which made my father glance over at me. "Your sister's acting like a butthead." My father said, which made me look over at him with a stale face while Wesley cackled in the backseat. Instead of saying any words, I responded with a 'Hmph', before looking down at my nails.
"What's that supposed to mean, Journey?" With the way I was feeling, I would've responded disrespectfully. But to avoid any arguing or conflict, I simply ignored him and gazed out of the window. He sighed heavily and spoke, "Look, JJ, I know you're upset about moving. Hell, we all are."
"No, I'm not." Wesley said from the backseat and I glared at him from the rearview mirror, "Nobody asked you, Wesley." I said.
"Nigga, nobody asked you to say anything to me, Cruella Deville, but here we are. Stay up there and continue acting like an ass like you've been doing." For him to be ten-years-old, he sure had a lot of mouth and he was gonna get popped right in it if he didn't shut up talking to me like he was crazy. "Shut the hell up, you dirty rat," I said and in no time, the both of us began to bicker back and forth, "Hey! Hey! Both of you be quiet and watch your damn mouths! The hell is Y'all problem?" His eyebrows furrowed as he looked back and forth between us and the road.
"My problem is that you had to drag me here. I mean, Dad, come on! My whole life is in Decatur! My friends, my family, and my job. And quite frankly, for you to just make the decision for me to leave and move to Charlotte is selfish! My whole future was planned and that just got dragged from underneath my feet. I seriously didn't even have to leave, I could've stayed with M--"
"Journey, your mother is not stable enough to raise you and your brother, which is why I was granted full custody. Hell, she can barely take care of herself." He said and I smacked my lips.
I hated when he said things like that about my mother, but what I hated the most is that he was right. She wasn't stable enough to raise both Wesley and myself, but I'd rather be with her than relocate to a whole 'nother state. "Listen, JJ.." He trailed off before he continued to speak, "I know this isn't easy for you, Journey. Believe it or not, It's not easy for me either. To just pick up and have to relocate and start all over is hard but I'm doing what I have to do to make sure you and your brother are straight, you understand?" I nodded.
"I understand your whole life is in Georgia, everybody's is, JJ. But, you just gotta go with the motion. You can always make new friends, get a job, and we have family here as well. As soon as you turn eighteen, you're more than welcome to leave and venture off and do what you want. Okay?" I nodded understandingly. "Oh, Wesley, you're grounded too." I pressed my lips together to contain myself from laughing because of Wesley's reaction.
"For what? What are you going to gain from it?" I bust out laughing but I quickly straightened up once my father glanced over at me. "Because I've told you about cussing! We agreed on you saying 'nigga', not all that other shit your slick ass was saying." Wesley sighed heavily and mumbled something, which made my father damn near break his neck to look at him.
"Keep it up, Anthony. I'll reach back there and whoop that ass." I shook my head with a smirk on my face while I gazed out of the window.
Welcome to Charlotte
Butterflies began to invade my stomach as I grew more and more anxious. I'd never even stepped foot out of Georgia now here I am in North Carolina, turning a new page and starting a new chapter in my life. A mere 45 minutes later, we pulled up in front a nice one story, brick house. The house was located in what seemed to be a pretty nice neighborhood. It was a lot better than the neighborhood we lived in when we were Georgia, that's for sure.
We got out of the car and I observed my surroundings. All of the houses on the block were very beautiful. They were either the same size as our house or a bit bigger since some of them were two story houses. "Nice, huh?" My dad asked, looking at Wesley and I. I nodded and shrugged, "It's cool." I said and he chuckled.
He let the seats down in the backseat and we retrieved our bags before following him to the front door. He looked at his key ring and selected a key before sticking it into the lock and unlocking the door. When we walked inside, we were surprised- well at least I was-. The house was very decorative and well put together. The carpet must've been freshly installed due to the smell of the house. The walls were painted white but the paint job seemed to have to be fresh, due to the stench that was lingering as well. The house was furnished with a leather couch that was up against the wall on the right side of the room, along with a leather love seat that was placed in front of the window that had burgundy drapes. In between the space of the two couches, there was a small table there with a lamp on it.
In the middle of the living room was a black table with a glass table-top and over on the other wall, there was an entertainment center, which was obviously for when my father hooked the TV, stereo, and speakers up. "Pretty nice, huh?" He asked and both Wesley and I nodded which made him smile proudly.
"Who furnished it though?"
"I furnished the living room when I came down here to buy the house a few weeks ago. I only did the living room though," He said.
"Take your shoes off and go tour the rest of the house," He said. I slid my converse off of my feet and dropped my bags at the door before walking into the dining room and seeing that it was empty and right ahead there was the kitchen. There was a lot of counter space, as well as a built in microwave that was installed right above the stove. I walked a bit further and noticed the doors that led to the laundry room and garage.
"Woah! Jay, come look at the rooms!" I heard Wesley call for me. I left out of the kitchen and walked down the hallway. I looked to my left and seen a full bathroom that had a spacious tub/shower. There was a marbled counter and a large mirror mounted on the wall.
I nodded in approval and went down the hall seeing a room that was painted green and I seen Wesley standing in the room. "I call dibs on the green," I said, looking around the room. I went over to the closet and opened it, looking inside, seeing it was very spacious.
"Yeah, this is mine," I said and he scoffed, "Nigga, please. You're out your rabbit ass mind if you think you're getting this room." He said then his eyes widened. I furrowed my eyebrows and followed his gaze. I looked over and seen our Dad leaning against the door with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised. "Three weeks. You're grounded for three weeks," Dad said while he unbuckled his belt.
I hurried and hustled out of the room to look at the rest house so I wouldn't have to watch Wesley get his ass beat, although I'd still hear it.
"What did I just say in the car, Wesley?!"
Smack!
He yelped and he got hit three more times before I heard his cries and weeps.
Someone's gonna have a good nap. I thought to myself while looking into the room that was painted yellow. It was about the same size as Wesley's room and I saw the closet was way bigger than his. I nodded in approval, "You like your room?" Dad asked, fixing his belt as he breathed heavily. "Yeah, I do. Someone had quite a workout."I said, staring at him. "I did, but I didn't hit him that hard. You know how extra your brother is," he said and I nodded.
"Where's he at, now?" I asked him. "In the living room. Come on, we're about to go get some food then we have to make a few runs before we come back and unload the trailer." I nodded and followed him out of the room, into the living room. I looked over at Wesley and seen him over on the love seat with his arms crossed. His face was red and he had a few tears running down his face.
"Come on, Wesley," I said and he got off of the couch before walking over to the foyer and slipping his shoes on. Once we had our shoes on, we went out to the car while Dad locked up. As we waited for him to come out and unlock the door, I reached out and wiped Wesley's tears. "Stop crying, Wes. You gotta start listening, man. You're getting older now and that means you'll have a bit more freedom as well as a few more privileges, and on top of that, you're about to be eleven. You won't be able to participate and fun things if you're always grounded. Just chill out and think before you say or do things," I said.
"You understand?" He nodded and I did too. Dad walked out of the house and he went over to the driver's side before unlocking his door, as well as Wesley and I's. We got into the car and he backed out of the driveway and drove down the street.
We end up stopping at Mcdonald's and we ate real quick before going to Walmart. "Alright, here's the plan. Jay, I want you to get all of our cleaning supplies, hygiene products, things of that nature. Here's your list. I know you don't want to be with me Wesley, so go with your sister while I go to get food." We nodded and got out of the car before going into the store. Dad grabbed a cart and I did the same.
We split up and I went to get the things I needed to grab. "What's next on the list, Wesley?" I asked while we walked done aisles. "Period Pads." He said with his eyebrows furrowed and his nose was wrinkled, which indicated that he was disgusted.
I laughed and we walked down the aisles, "Wesley, things like this shouldn't disgust you. You're going to have to get used to it. Your Girlfriend is going to deal with it, and so will your daughter if you have one." I said and he smacked his lips, "I don't want to hear about this shit." I smacked my lips and glared at him.
"When you get your ass whooped again, don't come to me talking shit about Dad," I said and he mocked me. "'when you get your ass whooped again, don't come to me.' Shut up." He said and I pushed him while grabbing what I needed off of the shelf. "What's next?" I asked him and his response was, "Toothpaste for your stank ass mouth." I really disliked this demon child.
"Forget you, little boy. My breath smells wonderful, thank you very much," I said, smacking the back of his head. I grabbed two tubes of Colgate off of the shelf. "Alright, now we need cleaning supplies." I nodded as we walked towards the cleaning supplies. On our way there, we took a detour to the toy section since Wesley was damn near on bended-knee, begging me to go by there.
It was pointless since Dad wouldn't be buying him anything due to him being on punishment but since it'd get him to shut up, I did it. "Ooh, look at this gun!" He gawked. He grabbed it off of the shelf and examined it before holding it in his hand and playing with it, although it was still packaged. He nodded in approval and dropped it in the cart. "Um, Dad's not buying that," I said with my eyebrows furrowed. "Yes, he will," Wesley said, sounding sure of himself.
"How do you figure, Wesley?" I asked him. "He still owes me a gift for getting all A's on my progress report," Wesley said. "How much do you wanna bet he won't buy it?" I challenged with one of my perfectly threaded eyebrows arched. "Ten bucks says he will," Wesley said with a smirk on his lips.
"Won't."
"Will!" He shot back. "Alright, you've got yourself a bet," I said extending one of my hands so he'd shake it. He spits on his hand and extends it. "That's disgusting, Wesley!" I exclaim and he laughs. "Nasty ass boy. We still have a bet, but I won't be shaking shit." He chuckled and nodded. We walked out of the aisle, down another. I heard loud laughing in the other aisle and Wesley tried to run off and go be nosey but I grabbed the back of his shirt, "Bring your ass," I said. As soon as I walked out of the aisle, something hard collided with the side of my head.
"Ow!" I heard cackling and I looked and seen two boys in the aisle. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. Are you okay?" One of the guys asked walking up to me. "Who the hells plays football in Walmart?" I asked angrily. "My brother and I were just goofing around. I apologize once again. Are you okay?" He asked once more. "I'm fine, but you need to practice on your aim," I said and the other guy in the aisle laughed louder. I glared at him and he put his hands up in defense. Before anything else could be said, I walked out of the aisle and went to get what I needed. "Damn! He clocked your ass!" Wesley laughed loudly as we walked down the aisle to retrieve paper towels and tissue. He continued to laugh and I sighed, rolling my eyes.
I now had an attitude and I was pissed off even more, "Wesley you better shut the hell up before I make Dad give you something else to cry about, punk." I said and his laughing came to a halt.
I looked over at him and laughed at his facial expression. His face was emotionless and he stood there, defeated. "Really? You had to go there?" He asked.
I shrugged and we continued getting what we needed. Soon enough, we met up with Dad and we stood in line to pay for everything. "What is this doing in here?" Dad grabbed Wesley's gun and I looked over at him and smirked. "Well, Dad I figured that since you promised me a gift for getting all A's on my progress reports, you'd get me this." He flashed a smile, showcasing one of his bottom teeth he had just lost. "You're right," Dad said and my eyes widened and my jaw dropped while the smile on Wesley's face got bigger. "But you're grounded. Once you're not grounded and you get your act together, we can negotiate. Go put it back." His face fell and I cackled. He grabbed the gun and went and set it inside the bin of candy that was in the middle of the store.
Looks like I'm ten dollars richer.
"He thinks he's slick."Dad continued loading things onto the conveyor belt. The cashier rang our things up and bagged them before giving Dad his total, "$336.78. Cash or credit?" She asked Dad while staring him down like he was a piece of meat. I was used to it because let's be real here, Dad was handsome. He was tall and chocolate with a nicely lined goatee and a low cut fade. He always dressed nice and he had a few figures in his bank account so I see why the ladies hounded him the way they did.
But it was still quite odd since it was my Dad. He pulled some money out of his wallet and handed her the amount before going into the register and gathered his change. She snatched his receipt out of the printer and handed it to him, along with his change. "Have a good day and I hope to see you here again sometime soon." She said with a seductive smirk. He chuckled, "Have a good night, young lady." We put the bags into the cart and we exited out of the store. I looked over at my Dad and he looked over at me before he began to chuckle. "What?" He asked and I shook my head. "Not my fault your dad still got it."
"Don't flatter yourself, Old man." We put the things in the car and I put the cart where it belonged before getting in the car and going back home. It was going on 6 O'clock in the evening and I was already tired from all the driving we had been doing, now we had to decorate the house and I wasn't up for the task. While Dad put away groceries, I lingered for a bit. "What do you want, Dupree? Go ahead and ask." He called me by my middle name, which is something he did often between both Wesley and myself.
"Can we decorate tomorrow? I'm tired!" I whined. "Nope, we gotta get it done tonight." I smacked my lips and stomped my foot on the tiled floor, "Listen, if you get this done tonight, you can sleep as long as you want tomorrow. I won't bother you not once and I'll even make your favorite breakfast tomorrow, sound like a deal?" He asked.
I agreed and we got everything done that same night.
Author's Note:
Alright, I'm completely aware of how Jodeci got together as well as how their careers started and their background stories, for the most part, but this book will not be based on their musical careers. All of the things I've learned about them will be implied in my own way.
So, don't drag me 😂 I ain't tryna see "That's not what happened," or "You don't know what you're talking about." in my comments. This book is hella fictional. Also, DONALD WILL NOT BE MENTALLY ILL OR ABUSIVE! I know that's the role he usually portrays in Wattpad stories and that's totally fine but I wanted to show a more romantic/softer side of Donald.
~OfficiallyJayx